


and our world is almost beautiful again

by river_soul



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-29
Updated: 2012-04-29
Packaged: 2017-11-04 12:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/393890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/river_soul/pseuds/river_soul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a stillness in the Godswood that Sansa seeks; a peace she cannot find even in the newly rebuilt halls of Winterfell where Robb sits as King.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and our world is almost beautiful again

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to jasmina22 for being an awesome beta!

There is a stillness in the Godswood that Sansa seeks; a peace she cannot find even in the newly rebuilt halls of Winterfell where Robb sits as King.

Her family home, grown now that it houses the King of the North, is hardly recognizable. The castle had been razed into the ground during the war, nothing more than crumbling stone, blackened and charred, when they arrived. Sansa had cried at the sight of it, her heartache overwhelming until Robb had gathered her into his arms and promised her, voice strong and sure, that they would rebuild and start again. 

The Godswood, by some miracle, had been spared save for a few trees, black with fire at the edge. Sansa had avoided it at first, her grief too fresh and strong for all the memories it held but in time Robb convinced her to join him. 

Each morning he would lead them through the deep snow to sit under the Weirwood and remember together. At first, when her voice trembled over their names _Arya Bran Rickon mother father_ he would ease his hands across her shoulders and kiss the crown of her head until the day came when she could speak their names without crying. Eventually the pain dulled but Sansa can feel it inside her chest sometimes still, an old bruise tender to the touch. 

Caught up in her own memories Sansa is surprised to feel a wetness on her cheeks. For a moment she fears she might cry but then she hears the breeze rustle through the trees and feels it brush against her face tenderly and she smiles instead. 

_Hello Bran_ she thinks, the tight fissure of pain inside her chest easing once more. 

The men of the Nights Watch say he is dead, somewhere beyond the Wall but Sansa can feel him in these woods as surely as she feels the snow beneath her feet or the cold bite of the winter air in her lungs. Although she knows she will never look upon his face again, she knows he is alive and that is enough for her now. 

Rickon is lost to them too but Sansa thinks he is safe, maybe even happy, wherever he is. It is impossible to imagine him otherwise. It’s Arya she worries for. The men Robb sends to the free cities only hear whispers of her and she is beyond even Bran’s reach. Jon is the only one they're sure of but even he is gone now. He went south to answer the call of his newly found aunt who sits on the Throne. 

He had been the one to negotiate the peace, the one to ensure the North would bow to no King but Robb and the Stark line.

Jon, grown in the intervening years, looked so much like their father with his beard and battleworn face that Sansa had nearly cried at the sight of him. She had tried, when there had been a quiet moment between everything, to speak with Jon-to apologize for the cruelty of her youth. He hadn’t given her the chance, just pressed her close to him and kissed the crown of her hair softly. 

“Keep each other safe,” he told them both the morning he left for the south with the Dragon Queen. The kiss he placed carefully against her lips still tingled days after and thinking of him now, all these months later, makes her smile. So wonders suddenly if he is happy, if he regrets leaving them. He had offered her the chance to come with them in the beginning but Sansa had refused. 

She will not leave the North. She knows with certainty that she will live and die here but she will not do it alone. 

Twisting the thin gold band around her finger, one of the many requirements of the Queen to secure the North for the Stark line, she thinks about how her belly grows rounder with each passing day. Soon she will have a child and she hopes for strong dark haired boys and little redheaded girls. She prays the old Gods will bless her with children to fill the halls of Winterfell with laughter again. 

“Should I be jealous?” Robb asks, startling her as he emerges from behind the great Weirwood, Grey Wind at his side. “I have only seen you smile at me so.”

“Perhaps,” she teases gently as he comes to stand closer to her, his fingers warm and dry against the gentle slope of her neck. Grey Wind pushes his head under her palm and she strokes the long line of his back as Robb’s fingers ghost over the tender skin of her throat. She accepts his offered hand, comforted by the feel of his strong, steady fingers linked with hers. Her gaze lingers on the thin gold band he wears, a twin to hers. 

It had been strange at first, the idea of marrying her brother but so much had passed in the intervening years from when she saw him last that he’d been a stranger to her when they met again. He didn't look anything like she remembered and gone was that boy she’d grown up with. He stood before her a man, changed by war and death. Sansa thought he must have found her much changed too from the frivolous girl she’d been. 

“A kiss for your King?” he asks her, the blue of his eyes bright with laughter. Sansa thinks of her mother then, a tightness settling in her chest but it passes after a moment.

“A kiss for your Queen?” she returns playfully, brow arched. 

“Anything for my Queen,” Robb tells her and the quiet intensity sends a thrill down her spine as he steps forward, hands falling gently against her rounded belly to capture her lips with his. Sansa sighs softly into his mouth and feels the babe kick in her womb.

**Author's Note:**

> New [tumblr](http://river-soul.tumblr.com/) friends are always welcome!


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